


Shelter

by raphrodo



Category: IT Crowd
Genre: (I consider Roy & Moss to be canonically autistic so), Canon Autistic Character, Fluff, Implied/Referenced Abuse, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-03
Updated: 2016-03-03
Packaged: 2018-05-24 10:48:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6151130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raphrodo/pseuds/raphrodo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Do all of your relationships start with you attempting to kidnap them?"</p>
<p>Moss is much happier at Roy's than at his mum's, and Roy is very aware of that fact.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shelter

"Here," Roy said, laying a blanket on the floor. "You can have the bed, and I'll just sleep on the floor. I tend to fall asleep in more uncomfortable places than this anyway, so it doesn't bother me."

"Are you sure?" Moss asked, more out of politeness than actual concern. He'd seen Roy fall asleep in some pretty awkward places. He'd never forget the top-of-the-fridge incident. He still didn't understand how Roy had even got up there.

"Of course. Besides, you're the guest of honour." He flopped down onto the floor on his back. Moss hesitated a second, then climbed into Roy's bed. It was extremely comfortable, much nicer than his bed at home. Why Roy didn't sleep in it every night was a mystery to him. It had probably been expensive.

After the lights had been turned out and they'd both settled in, everything was quiet except for the fan blowing from the windowsill. It made Moss slightly uncomfortable, but he wasn't sure how to break the silence. Thankfully, Roy took care of that.

"Are you going to be alright, Moss?" he asked, sounding worried for the first time that evening. "I mean, in general."

Moss took a while to respond. "I hope so," he said finally. "Things have just been really stressful lately."

"Is your mum... making it stressful?" Roy was the only one who understood much of what went on at home. Moss had told him almost everything, but not really everything. Some things were too difficult to talk about, even with his best friend. But Roy knew the basics: his mum had never been good at dealing with the fact that her only son was autistic. Ever since Moss was little, things between him and his mother had been tricky at best and toxic at worst. He'd always expected it to get better once he was an adult. It hadn't. But at least now he had a friend he could relate to, even if Roy's parents hadn't had the same approach to him being autistic. It was nice to have someone to turn to.

Moss sighed. "Kind of... she hasn't done anything particularly awful lately, but being around her just makes me feel..." He trailed off as Roy stood up and motioned for him to move over.

"I can't hear you very well over the fan," Roy explained somewhat sheepishly, and crawled into the bed next to Moss. "It makes you feel what?"

"I don't know. Unhappy. And a little bit scared." He wanted to drop the subject. Suddenly it felt wrong to talk about Bad Things when Roy was lying this close to him, and anyway he wasn't particularly gifted at describing his emotions. Roy didn't answer, though, and again they lay listening to the fan.

After a few minutes, Moss had nearly decided Roy had fallen asleep, when Roy turned suddenly to face him. "We can cuddle a bit if you want to," he said quietly. "I don't cuddle with just anyone, you understand, especially a man. But I think you might need it."

Moss wasn't sure how one was meant to respond in this kind of situation, so he just nodded and then said "Okay" in case Roy couldn't see him nodding.

Before he could blink he felt Roy's arms wrap around him. There were a few awkward seconds where Moss didn't know what to do besides just lie there like a flipping mackerel, before just putting his arms around Roy in a similar fashion. This apparently prompted Roy to pull him in towards himself more tightly, which Moss also copied. For a minute it turned into a kind of game to see how tightly they could hold onto each other while still being able to breathe somewhat. In the end, he won. Roy laughed slightly after catching his breath and Moss pressed a grin against his shoulder.

Being this close to someone for this long was not something Moss made a habit of. If it had been anyone else, it would have been unbelievably uncomfortable and possibly even distressing. But this was Roy, and Roy was safe.

Neither of them talked for a while, but it didn't feel like silence. For a moment, he was listening so carefully to Roy's breathing that he forgot to breathe himself. He tried to take a deep breath without drawing attention to himself, but ended up coughing and Roy laughed again.

Moss wondered what Roy was thinking. A few weeks ago, when they got caught up in that whole robbery thing and the police showed up, Moss had kissed him in a moment of panic. Since then, he'd realised it probably said something that his instinctive reaction to potential danger was to push his best friend up against a wall and snog him. And the fact that he'd done it again after Roy pointed out it wasn't necessary. He'd been meaning to talk to Roy about that, but a good time had never come up, and this wasn't one either.

Roy sat up just then. Moss briefly worried that Roy had been hearing his thoughts and was upset about them. "Where are you going?"

"Nowhere. I just feel like I'm crushing your arm."

It was sort of true, but it wasn't actually an unpleasant feeling. "You're not. And I wouldn't mind if you were."

"Don't be silly, Moss. Here." He moved Moss's arm, laid down on his back, and pulled him over until he was lying on top of him.

"Now you'll be crushed," Moss laughed, already shifting slightly so that his head was resting on Roy's chest.

"Nothing can crush me," Roy said. "I'm invincible."

"Good." At the moment, he believed him. It was a reassuring thought, although he was slightly insulted that he hadn't been told about this superpower before now. "Roy..."

"Yeah, Moss?"

He'd really only said his name for the sake of saying it, but admitting that would probably be embarrassing. "I can hear your heart beating." Because stating the obvious was definitely less silly, right? Gosh.

"How does it sound?" Roy asked, sounding only a little bit amused.

Moss didn't know what the appropriate response was to that, either. "Good?" _Wow._ "A little fast, though."

Roy didn't say anything for a few seconds. Then, bizarrely, "I'm sorry."

Moss picked up his head slightly. "Why are you apologising?"

Another pause. "I don't mean for it to be beating so fast."

Moss laughed. "Of course you don't. I didn't think you were doing it on purpose."

Roy didn't laugh. He was either thinking or upset, or both.

"Roy? Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Roy's arms tightened around Moss again for a second. "What about you, though? Do you feel any better?"

"Yes. Much better."

"You're not unhappy or scared right now?"

He leaned up and kissed Roy's cheek. "Not at all."

Roy froze for a moment. "What was that?" he asked finally, sounding like he might laugh again, but in a confused way this time.

 _Flip,_ Moss thought. _It was weird to kiss him just now. He obviously thinks it was weird, and not my signature brand of weird either._ "A kiss?" he said warily.

Roy sighed. "Moss... I don't - I need to talk to you about -"

"I'm tired!" He tried to cut Roy off without using exclamation marks, but he wasn't sure how successful he was. "Let's talk in the morning!" He rolled back onto the bed, facing the wall. He'd had a terrible day, but he'd been feeling much better this evening. The last thing he needed was A Talk to ruin everything.

"Yeah... this probably isn't the best time anyway." Moss didn't say anything. He was thinking about how annoying that fan was. It wasn't even hot in here. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

\--------------------------------------------------------

It was hard to tell if Roy had slept at all that night. It wouldn't be that surprising if he hadn't. Roy's sleep schedule had never made much sense to Moss. He had moved back to the floor at some point, though. He was lying there now, staring up at the ceiling, hands behind his head. His hair was a mess, and he was still wearing the same red t-shirt and jeans he'd worn for the past 3 days in a row. Moss thought he looked amazing, unfortunately.

"Hey, Moss," Roy said cheerfully up at him. "Did you sleep well?"

Moss shrugged. He'd had a lot to think about, and he never slept well when his brain was too full.

Roy sat up with his back against the bed and patted the floor next to him. "Come here for a minute." Moss slid onto the floor hesitantly. He wasn't sure if they were going to Talk now or if that was coming later, and he didn't know which would be worse. Roy rested his head on Moss's shoulder, which was surprising. "Hey," he said again softly.Moss leaned his head over on Roy's but said nothing. He wasn't sure what this was, but he wasn't complaining.

"I don't want you to go back to your mum's." Roy was still talking barely above a whisper. This took Moss by surprise. Roy was talking like an eight-year-old at a sleepover. Not that Moss had ever been to a sleepover when he was eight, or at all growing up, but from what he gathered this is basically how they acted.

"I'm not going anywhere yet, Roy. It's only 10 a.m."

"I know, I mean... I don't want you to go back there at all. Ever. I want you to stay here."

It took Moss a moment to process this. "I can't just never go back, you turnip! I live there! All my things are there!"

Roy sighed and said nothing for a moment. "I could get your things for you," he said finally and Moss was beginning to wonder if Roy was ill. "I know your mum hates me but I'd rather deal with her than have you do it. In the meantime you can borrow anything you need from me." By now he had picked up his head, but he had rested his hand on Moss's wrist, like he had to have some physical contact with him in order to communicate.

Moss felt a little dizzy. "We couldn't just - I mean, why? I can't -"

"You don't have to stay here if you don't want to, Moss. You could stay with... Jen, maybe, or... I don't know. I just. I don't want her to keep hurting you. This business of you being too scared to go home and all that... I hate seeing you go through this shit. You deserve to be happy."

It was difficult to know how to respond to all of this. "Was this what you wanted to talk about last night?" Moss asked, feeling embarrassed for some reason.

Roy looked at him for the first time in a while. "Yeah... part of it." Before Moss could ask what the other part was, he spoke again. "I'm being serious though, Moss."

Moss smiled at him. "I know you are." He wanted to just say yes. The idea of just never going back home was scary but exciting, and living with Roy would be... well, potentially awkward is what it would be. "I'll think about it."

"Good." Roy grinned at him for a second, then suddenly tugged the sleeve of Moss's pyjamas down and kissed him firmly on the shoulder.

"What was that?" Moss blinked.

Roy laughed a little nervously. "A kiss."

Moss thought for a moment. "To be honest, Roy, if exchanging kisses and sharing beds is going to become a habit with us, I'd prefer it if we upgrade the status of our relationship, if only to make things less confusing."

"Jesus, is that line how you start all your relationships?"

"I wouldn't know. I've never had a boyfriend before." Moss was a little confused as to whether that response meant yes or no. "Do all of your relationships start with you attempting to kidnap them?"

Roy shook his head, grinning. "No. This is a first for both of us I'd say."

Moss squinted slightly. "Just to clarify: does that mean that you are now actually my boyfriend?"

The grin turned into a softer kind of smile and Roy drew his knees in to his chest. It made him look small, despite being 6'4". "Um... yeah."

Now Moss was finding it difficult not to smile. "In that case, my running away and moving in with you suddenly reaches a new level of scandal. My mum would probably have a heart attack. Our reputations would be forever tarnished if we actually had reputations."

"I know," Roy said, nudging him with one shoulder. "But you've always loved all that dramatic shit."

He was about to concede that point, but Roy had apparently decided if they were in fact going to turn kissing into a habit they might as well not waste any more time, and Moss had to agree with him there, too.


End file.
